Humanity started in a beautiful garden. Disobedience caused the loss of that garden. Continual disobedience led to a worldwide flood, and the eight people that exited the ark repopulated the world.
One of Noah’s sons was Shem; one of Shem’s descendants was Abram, later called Abraham. In chapter 12, we see that God called Abraham to follow God wherever God would lead. He promised Abraham three things: land, descendants, and blessing. Abraham believed, and God blessed him for his faith.
God told Abraham to leave his homeland, and he did. But Abraham didn’t have any sons, so he traveled with his nephew, Lot. The land couldn’t support all their animals and servants, and so they decided to separate.
Lot went his way, to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Abraham went his way, settling near Hebron, which sits today about 25 miles south of Jerusalem. Once again, God promised Abraham descendants, saying that if the dust could be counted, then so could his descendants. Abraham pitched his tents and built an altar to God.
What does it look like to be a person of faith? The key is to make sure your faith is directed to the right place. Faith in other people will disappoint you. Faith in yourself will, too. But faith in God will never disappoint you. We can have faith because, for everyone who believes in Jesus Christ, God has already fulfilled his promise to make us new; he won’t hold back on everything else!
Prayer: Dear God, thank you for your forgiveness, love, and grace. Thank you for changing my life! I will have faith in you because I can see what you have already done in me. Amen.